Time keeps ticking away

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted on my blog!  So much has been happing. Time is flying by here.  We are moving in less than 4 months. There are lots of mixed emotions.  I am excited that James is nearing the end of his residency.  But we have loved our time in Alabama.  We are trying to spend as much time as possible with our family and friends before we move.  We need to sale our house here and find a rental house in Arkansas. Our house is officially on the market.  I spent lots of time purging, deep cleaning, and finishing home improvement projects in January and the first part of Feb.  It went on the market mid February and we had two showing the first weekend.  Unfortunately we have no offers and we have not had any showing since.  We are trusting God to deal with our house but definitely curious as to what is going to happen.   It has been quite a challenge trying to get the house perfect before we leave each time, just in case someone calls.  But after a month of no calls, I am starting to get more relaxed about it.  
      We took a family vacation to Orlando the first week of Feb.  It was so warm!  We spent half the time in the beautiful outdoor pools at the resort where we stayed.  We did a few Disney activities but did not go to any of the Disney Parks.  We went to Downtown Disney and Pearl had a princess make over at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  She is still talking about it!  We also did a Luau at the Polynesia Resort and dinner with Cinderella and her family at the Grand Floridian.  Calvin got a kiss from one of the step sisters and a marriage proposal!  Luther learned to swim on his own.  I had to pry his life jacket off of him, but when we he saw he could swim all by himself, he loved it!  James took Luther to Medieval Times one evening.  We ended the trip with a visit to the Orlando Science Museum.  We really had a wonderful vacation.  The kids were passing around a mild stomach bug while we were there, so that was the only negative part of the trip.  Even the 10hr drive went well both times.   

     I ordered real school workbooks and curriculum for Luther and some for Pearl too!  Luther has done a few phonics programs this year and was ready for some more challenging reading and writing.  We started All About Reading Pre Reading with Pearl and Level 1 with Luther 2 weeks ago.    They both are doing great!  I have to say, it is nice to have an open and go curriculum.  I do love lesson planning myself, but with 2 kids doing school, a toddler running around and trying to keep our house clean for showings, I caved and invested in some good stuff.   Luther is working through 1^st Grade Geography, Science and Math workbooks as well.  We have been doing a lot of playing with numbers to get him comfortable with the bigger numbers.  He has started counting to 100 in the last month.  I got a Base Ten block set and we have been doing a lot of activities with those.  He is technically supposed to be in preschool this year because of his late birthday. He already knew all of the preschool stuff when the school year was starting so I decided we would just do kindergarten stuff.  Well, it didn’t take very long so that is why I have had to move into 1^st grade stuff.  I have recently decided that we need to only do school 4 days week.  Homeschooling is so time efficient, we are going to have to slow down or Luther is going to be through elementary school before he is suppose to be in 1^st grade.  So now on some of the days we go to the zoo or a museum we are going to count that as our school.  I am always quizzing them on stuff they are learning where ever we are anyway.  Yesterday Luther read lots of signs and names on bricks at the botanical gardens and we classified everything we saw and living or non-living.  Reading and science, done!  And, that actually was after doing his school work before we left the house.  Pearl is learning so much stuff right along with Luther.  She told me when we got back in the van after the gardens that if I didn’t get her some water that she was going to be non-living.  LOL!!

     I finished up a book study on Trusting God by Jerry Bridges with the group of ladies that meets at our house on Thursday mornings.  It was a life changing book for all of us.  It really helped us apply the truth of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibly to everyday life.  We have now moved on to Respectable Sin by Jerry Bridges.   I know it is going to be super challenging.  I was actually reluctant to do it, but because of that I knew we really should. It will be our last book together L  I sure am going to miss the fellowship and encouragement I have had from this precious group of ladies.  It is a crazy time, our meetings! Last week we have 9 preschooler and 4 babies running around while we attempted to discuss our chapters.  God is very gracious to us and now matter how crazy it is, we are still learning and ladies are still coming back. 

     James has a new obsession with kettle bells and running.  He has decided that he has finally come to the place in residency where he has time to add exercise into his schedule.  I like to go the gym in the mornings a few times a week to do body pump or body step classes while the kids are in child care.  But somehow James has convinced me to start doing workouts with him in the evening after the kids go to bed, when I am usually just chilling.  We shall see how this goes.  I may end up watching his workout from the couch.  But for now, I am swinging the kettle bells around with him.  I decided to give it a try.  Maybe, just maybe it will tighten my abs because after my 3 C-section it is seems to be next to impossible. 

     Calvin is now talking and has hair! There is no denying it, he is not a baby anymore.  But he is still our baby! He finally started enjoying books a few months ago and that has really helped with his vocabulary.  He is 20 months old now.  He loves the moon and his me-me(blanket).  He still is obsessed with balls but maybe a bit more with the moon right now.   He is starting to really enjoy pushing around cars and trains. His hair is pretty red.  It is mixed with blond and a lot straighter than Luther or Pearl’s.  I am interested to see what it looks like when it is all in.  He look so much like James, it is crazy!   He is still my little cuddle bug and loves to hug and be rocked. He has started some defiant behavior like shoving his hands in his pockets and turning his back when I ask him to pick up his toys.  Also he lies on the floor and has a silent tantrum when he doesn’t get what he wants.  He is so cute and funny it is hard not to laugh.  Luther and Pearl come to his rescue quickly when he gets in trouble.  They will even sit with him in time out.   He has really started want to do whatever they are doing.  I try to let him as much as possible but it is challenging.  It is so sweet when they find something they can all 3 enjoy together.  I take lots of video and picture.  I know these are memories I will treasure for a life time.  I am so blessed that I get to spend every day with these 3 special kids!   

 Recent zoo trip, the zebra is Pearl's favorite animal 

 Luther doing a reading lesson with his new All About Reading curriculum 

 Pearl doing some counting

 coloring together

 playing in the backyard together

 Medieval Times

 resort in orlando

 make over

 downtown Disney 

 dinner with cinderella 

    calvin's kiss from step sister

Luau!

So that is my random update about what is going on with us.  There is more but at least that is a bit.  I linked a few videos above, but here is the link to my YouTube Channel with tons of videos of the kids: http://www.youtube.com/user/carlynbeth?feature=mhee